<p>I think advocates of LACs think the no TA distinction is a real one, but schools that pride themselves on undergraduate attention pride themselves on undergraduate attention. My son who never had a teaching assistant in four years (also at Dartmouth, Slipper) was in a department without a graduate program, but he never had one in courses outside the department, either. I think interesteddad is such a true believer in LACs being distinctive that he has a hard time accepting this.
My daughter’s largest class her first year has 25-30 students and is team taught by profs, but breaks up into precepts (also taught by profs). All her other classes have had 8 to 12 students. This is at Princeton, which by the way has many more professors per student than Swarthmore. Hard not to make use of them. They are tripping over each other!
For universities like Dartmouth and Princeton, interesteddad is trying to make a distinction without a real difference.</p>